Anti-cheating device coin operated machines



May 15, 1956 w. A. PATZER 7459531 ANTI-CHEMIN@ DEVICE; COIN OPERATED MACHINES Filed NOV. 2, 1954 Unie States arent ANT-CHETNG Dil/'ECE COIN GPERATED MAQHINES William A. Patzer, Chicago, lli., assigmor, by :ncsne signments, to Seth B. Atwood, Rockford, Iii.

Application November 2, 1954, Serial No. 466,335

6 Ciaims. (Ci. 19d-97) This invention relates to a device for processing coins during passage therethrough for separation of the coins into their various denominations and to separate slugs, washers and other counterfeits from legitimate coins which are delivered by the coin testing device to the unit adapted to be operated by the coin. it relates more particularly to a device of the type described embodying an element that prevents cheating by the use of a coin more than once for actuation of the coin operated machine.

Various schemes and devices have been conceived in the past for cheating coin operated machines of the type described even when a coin testing device is ernployed in combination therewith for the separation of coins of one denomination from another and for the separation of illegitimate coins which are rejected while legitimate coins are advanced by the coin testing device to a coin slot for operation of the coin operated machine,

such as a machine for vending certain commodities such y as cigarettes and the like, or a machine for operation of amusement devices such as games, records or the like, or a machine for making change.

One method which has been devised for cheating a machine o the type described is by the attachment of an elongate string or filament to a coin such as a .Z5-cent piece. Upon insertion of the coin into the hopper leading into the coin testing device, a length of the iilament is released with the coin adapted to permit the legitimate coin to pass successfully through the coin testing device into the quarter slot for operation of the coin machine.

The cheater then manipulates the string or filament up and down for displacement of the coin into and out of contact with the coin operated switch mechanism of the machine thereby repeatedly to operate the machine upon the insertion of but a single coin. By this means, it has been possible for a cheater to empty a machine of practically all of its articles to be vended or to eX- tract all of the change from a machine without the insertion of additional coins thereby to steal merchandise and money of considerably greater value than the single coin which has been inserted The possibility for a machine of the type described to be cheated in this manner has presented a serious obstacle to the ready adoption of coin operated machines, devices and money changers even when used in connection with a coin testing device, such as described in Patent No. 2,292,628, or the improved coin testing devices of the type described in my copending applications Serial No. 365,011, led .lune 30, 1953, and Serial No. 405,936, iiled January 25, 1954.

Various means have been developed for preventing a coin operated machine from being cheated in this manner. To the present, the most successful means have made use of a V-shaped slot in a wedge shaped member located adjacent the entrance to the coin slot which receives the thread onto which the coin is attached in a manner to become worked into the slot so as to resist free shifting movement of the thread up and down for displacement of the coin between switch operating ICC position and back. The thread which becomes wedged in the slot cannot be displaced further to cheat the machine but the thread remains wedged within the slot with the result that the machine becomes inoperable until the thread is removed from the slot in which it has become wedged. Removal requires substantially complete disassembly of the coin testing device and such clearance requires the skill of an expert with the result that the machine very often becomes inactivated over an extended period of time before such skilled help can be made available properly to attend to the machine. This presents a serious obstacle to the use of an anti-cheating device of the type described but its use is continued because of the necessity to protect the vendor who makes use of the machine.

It is an object of this invention to produce an anticheating device of the type described which is positive in its operation for preventing such cheating operations, which can be readjusted to normal operating conditions without the necessity completely to disassemble the device for release of any entrapped elements, which is substantially clean in its operation in that iibers and laments are not retained in the various parts of the coin testing device which might otherwise interfere with its subsequent operation, which permits the entrapped elements rapidly and easily to be released without the necessity for employing skilled labor thereby to permit the operator to release the machine for immediate use without loss of operating time and Without the expenditure of considerable sums of money for returning the machine to operating conditions.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invenl tion is shown in the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is an elevational view of a coin testing device embodying features of this invention with parts broken away for better illustration of the arrangement of elements therein;

Figure 2 is a sectional View taken along the line 3--3 of Figure l prior to entrapment of the coin supporting thread therein;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 or Figure l, and

Figure 4y is a perspective View showing the elements in their relative position for use in mounting in the coin testing device of Figure l.

ln general, a coin testing device employed in connection with the coin operating machine makes use of a coin chute 10 in which the coins are inserted for testing to separate the legitimate coins from the slugs, washers and counterfeits, and for separating the coins into their various denominations such as into pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, or any combinations thereof. Usually the coins are tested lirst by physical means, such as for size, weight and surface characteristics, as by means of rocker arms as described in theV issued Patent No. 2,292,628, 0r in my copending application Ser. No. 365,011, or by means of slots or passages through which the coins tumble for separation one from the other based upon size, as in my copending application Ser. No. 405,936.

Ultimately, by whichever process the coins are tested, the coins separated into their Various denominations by size and Weight are subsequently delivered to downwardly inclined runways il and 12 where they are tested for composition while the coins pass over the runways through a magnetic iield designed to interfere with the travel of the coin depending upon whether or not it is of the correct composition.

Referring briey to the operation of a device of the type described in my copending application Ser. No. 405,936 for testing to limit passage of legitimate 25-cent pieces into the coin slot 13 leading into the coin operated machine, a coin of the size and weight of a quarter is inserted in the chute 1t). The coin passes downwardly through the coin slot 14 of the chute into the coin testing device where it falls vertically onto an inclined runway 15 provided at the base of a Slot 16 dimensioned to have a height slightly less than the diameter of a legitimate 25-ccnt piece. If the coin which comes to rest on the runway is smaller than a legitimate 25-cent piece, then the upper edge of the coin is able to clear the lower edge of the face plate 17 defining the upper edge of the slot 16 with the result that the coin is able to tip backwardly and fall through the slot for continued passage downwardly to the next testing element below, as dened in the aforementioned copending application. in the event that the coin inserted into the chute is of larger dimension than a legitimate 25-cent piece, the upper edge of the coin will be unable to clear the slot with the result that the coin will travel laterally down the inclined runway i until the upper edge of the coin is engaged by a pin (not shown) spaced from the runway by an amount slightly greater than the diameter of the legitimate coin thereby to arrest the coin to prevent further movement down the runway.

lf, on the other hand, the coin 1S is dimensioned to correspond to a legitimate 25-cent piece, its upper edge will extend beyond the upper edge of the slot with the result that the coin will roll laterally down the runway for delivery onto an aligned inclined runway 11 over which the coin travels through the area between magnetic members 19 for testing the coin for composition.

Permanent magnets 19 are fixed onto the outer walls of the face plate 17 and a guide plate 29 to set up a magnetic field across the path through which the coins pass during travel over the runway 11. The travel of the coins over the runway is iniluenced by the eect which the magnetic iield has on the coin based on its composition. In the event that the coin is of a metallic composition which is highly attracted to the magnetic eld, the flight of the coin will be arrested in the magnetic field and the coin will be retained by the magnets 19 between the face plate 17 and the guide plate 20 until scavenged by a sweeping arm which rocks about a pivot in response to actuation of a rejector lever, more speciiically described in the copending application Serial No. 365,011, filed June 30, l953, and entitled Coin Testing Device. As the guide plate 2t) is rocked about its pivot pin so as to increase the spaced relation between the guide plate and the face plate, the scavenger arm displaces the spurious coin for delivery by gravitational force into the reject receiver, indicated by the numeral 21.

ln the event that the coin passing through the magnetic field is of a composition which is completely free of any response so that its flight is not retarded, the coin will strike an adjustable deilector lug (shown in applicants copending application Serial No. 365,011) with such force as will cause the coin to bounce across the device and fall into tthe reject receiver 21. If, on the other hand, a legitimate -cent piece travels over the runway 11 through the magnetic iield, the magnetic forces will operate to slow the flight of the coin suiciently so that it will pass beneath the deflector lug and will travel along a controlled arc between the lug and an anvil into the coin receiving chute 13 in communication with a coin slot of the coin operated machine. Similar forces and reactions operate to separate spurious coins from good coins of other denominations along other runways similarly provided within a device.

To the present, description has been made of coin testing devices embodying various improvements in operation for the separation of coins into their various denominations and for the separation of coins into legitimate coins which are advanced to the coin operated machine and others which are rejected.l Descriptionhas not been made to a device which includes an anti-cheating feature embodying improvements of this invention. In the absence of such anti-cheating feature, a legitimate 25-cent piece 1S can be inserted into the coin chute 10 with a length of nylon thread 22 tied to the coin with suicient length of thread being released to enable the coin to pass freely through the coin testing elements described and into the coin slot 13 in registry with the coin operated machine. Without an anti-cheating feature, thread or filament can be dangled up and down to pass the coin repeatedly past the coin operated switch merecer 23 for repeated operation of the machine.

ln accordance with the practice of this invention, this method for cheating the machine has been substantially completely eliminated in a very simple and ingenuous manner without modification of the operation of the coin testing device and without the necessity for substantial disassembly of the device for releasing the coin or for reeing the device of the thread upon which the coin has een attached and which enables the coin operated mechanism to be returned substantially immediately to operating conditions without the necessity for the employment of skilled labor thereby to avoid inactivation of the machine over extended periods of time.

Referring brieiiy to the drawing for a more detailed description of the invention, the numeral 17 represents the face plate of the coin testing device and the numeral 24 represents a gate mounted for swinging movement on a pin 25 between normal and open positions of adjustment. The gate is constantly urged in the direction towards normal or closed position by means such as a coil spring 26 having one end portion anchored onto a ilange 27 supporting the pivot pin 25 while the other end engages the rear wall of the gate. When the gate is in its normal or closed position, the gate plus the guide plate are spaced from the face plate 17 suiiiciently to permit coins of the desired denomination to pass freely therebetween.

The preliminary testing elements for separation of coins inserted as by size, weight and surface characteristics are usually located immediately below the coin chute 10 into which the coins are inserted by the purchaser for passage through the coin testing device through the coin chute 13 for delivery to the coin operated machine. Since the inventive concepts are not limited in any way to the construction and operation of the preliminary testing means, their construction or operation, it will be unnecessary to make a detailed description thereof other than by reference to numerous units of the type described in the aforementioned copending applications. Description hereafter will be made in detail of the construction,

and operation of means by which such cheating operations are eliminated regardless of the construction and operation of the other elements in the device. For purposes of defining the means in its usual setting, reference will be made to the constructions described starting with the runways onto which the separated coins are delivered by the preliminary testing devices for passage laterally over runways within the device. It will be understood, however, that the practice of this invention is in no way dependent or tied in with such additional tests and that use may be made of runways provided solely for the purposes of conducting coins laterally toward the coin chute below. Y

Instead of securing the runway 11 in abutting relation rigidly with the face plate 17 at the desired slope, as in constructions heretofore employed, the crosswise entry runway is mounted on the face plate, in accordance with the practice of this invention, in substantially the same relative position but in a manner which enables displacement of the runway in the direction toward and away from the face plate to a limited extent coupled with additional means resiliently to urge the runway against the face plate. For this purpose, a crosswise runway, such as the runway 11, is secured at its upper end portion in the desired location on theface plate as by means of a stud which is rigid with the plate 17 and which extends loosely through an opening 31 in the runway to permit a slight amount of rocking movement or displacement of the runway in the direction toward and away from the face plate. A post 32 extending into an opening 33 in the lower end portion of the runway is rigidly secured thereto as by upsetting the end while a substantial length of the post 32 extends through an opening 34 of larger dimension in the face plate 17 to position the runway at the desired slope on the face plate but in a manner which enables displacement of the -runway by a limited amount in a direction away from the face plate about or in conjunction with the pivotal stud 30, when a spaced relation sufficient to permit play exists between the head 35 of the pivot pin and the face plate. The means constantly urging the lower end portion of the runway into resilient engagement with the face plate, in the illustrated modification, comprises a coil spring 36 having one end portion bearing against the head 37 of the post 32 while the other end bears against the outer wall of the face plate 17. It will be understood that other means for mounting the runway 11 for limited movement in the manner described and for resiliently urging the runway against the face plate may be provided without departing from the concepts of this invention. The lower end portion 38 of the runway is turned outwardly away from the face plate, preferably to provide a smooth curvilinear outturned end portion.

With this construction, when a coin such as a legitimate 25-cent piece 18 is inserted into the coin chute 10 with a nylon thread 22 or other filament of high strength attached thereto, the coin 18 will travel in the normal manner through the physical testing elements for size and weight and will then pass over the runway 11 to which it is delivered by the testing elements and from which it falls in the normal trajectory into the coin slot 13 leading into the coin operated machine where it functions to trip the switch operating member 23 for making contact with the solenoid 39 which in turn initiates operation of the coin operated machine. As the coin 18 falls from the end 38 of the runway, the filament 22 attached to the coin will naturally be received-within the groove 40 formed between the outwardly turned end portion 38 of the runway and the face plate 17, as illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawing.

Since the end of the runway is out of line with the path that would normally be taken by the filament as it extends through this area, any tension applied to the filament either by the weight of the coin 18 or by pull on the filament to raise the coin, will cause the filament to cam the end portion of the runway 11 outwardly in the direction away from the face plate in opposition to the resilient means urging the runway again-st the face plate with the result that the filament will enter the space between the runway and the face plate laterally of the stud 32, as illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawing. While in this position, the filament will be unable to be displaced outwardly from between the members.

Thus the filament automatically becomes entrapped between the face plate 17 and the runway 11 resiliently urged in the direction towards the face plate. While it may be possible to withdraw the lament in the upward direction for the displacement of the coin upwardly in the coin chute for a limited di-stance, the frictional forces developed by engagement of the filament between the face plate and the runway is sufiicient to support the coin in its raised position. As a result, any slackening of the filament as before will fail to result in displacement of the coin downwardly through the coin slot and operation of the switch means 23 of the coin controlled machine. Instead, the coin will remain suspended in -space from the end of the filament wedged between the runway and the face plate until the filament is released by the application of external force, as will hereinafter be described. Usually, the arnent will have been broken as the cheater finds that he is unable successfully to make use of the coin again in operation of the machine since he will invariably attempt to pull the coin back out of the machine. This is impossible because of the various anvils and blocks lying in its path, and because the coin will be incapable of taking the path of the filament wedged between the runway and face plate. To release the filament from between the runway and face plate, it is only necessary, in a construction of the type described, to depress the portion of the stud 32 extending beyond the face plate in a manner to relax the tension urging the runway against the face plate so as to free the mnway and permit the iilament to slide freely `from between the elements in response to the weight of the coin. It is thus possible to return the unit to operating condition in a simple and etlicient manner without the requirement for disassembly of the unit and without the requirement for labor of a particular skill.

It will be apparent that the concepts of this invention rely in part on the use of a runway over which the coin travels in which the end of the runway is out of line with a filament under tension stretching through the area between the coin and the coin chute into which the coin is introduced with means on the end portion of the runway for guiding the filament attached to the coin into the trap between the runway and its support as the coin reaches the runway for travel through the remainder of the unit. Other means for mounting the runway on the support in a manner to permit limited movement away from the support with resilient means urging the runway against the support may be employed, but it is preferred to make use of elements by which the forces urging the runway against its support may be relieved in a simple and eicient manner for release of the filament supporting the coin in order to return the device to operating condition.

By way ofA modification, the crosswise runway or runways over which the coins travel may be mounted on supports separate and apart from the face plate with means operating therewith resiliently to urge the runway against the face plate or other plate similar thereto for effecting a gripping relation with any filament which enters therebetween. Instead of turning the end portion of the runway away from the face plate to guide the filament therebetween, other means separate and apart from the runway may be provided as a guide to displace the filament into the area between the runway and plate as the coin drops from the end of the runway.

It will be understood that changes may be made in the details of construction, arrangement and operation in a device of the type described without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

l. In a coin operated machine, means for preventing repeated use of inserted coins for unauthorized repeated operations of the machine comprising a face plate, a crosswise extending, downwardly inclined runway over which the coins travel to the machine for actuation thereof', means mounting the runway to permit displacement of the lower end portion a limited distance toward and away from the face plate, means resiliently urging the runway in the direction toward the face plate, and means associated with the lower end portion of the runway for diverting elements secured to the coins passing over the runway into the area between the runway and face plate as the coin falls from the lower end portion of the runway.

2. In a coin operated machine, means for preventing cheating of the machine by the insertion of coins with a filament attached by which the coin is displaced for repeated operation of the machine, a face plate, a crosswise extending, downwardly inclined runway mounted on the face plate in a manner to permit limited relative movement in the direction toward and away from each other, resilient means constantly urging the face plate and the runway in a direction towards each other to provide a runway over which the coins travel to the machine, and means at the lowerend portion of the runway for directing the iilament attached to the coin into the area between the runway and face plate after the coin falls from the lower end portion of the runway.

3. In a coin operated machine, means for preventing cheating of the machine by the insertion of coins with a filament attached for use in displacement of the coin for repeated operation of the machine by manipulation of the iilament comprising a face plate, a crosswise downwardly inclined runway over which the coin travels and which is mounted on the face plate in a manner to permit limited relative movement between the lower end portion of the runway and the face plate in the direction toward and away from each other, resilient means constantly urging the runway in the direction towards the face plate, and means on the end of the runway for leading the filament attached to the coin into the area between the runway and the face plate after the coin falls from the lower end portion of the runway.

4. In a coin operated machine, means for preventing cheating of the machine by the insertion of coins with a filament attached for use in displacement of the coin for repeated operation of the machine by manipulation of the filament comprising a face plate, a crosswise downwardly inclined runway over which the coin travels and which is mounted on the face plate in a manner to permit limited relative movement between the lower end portion of the runway and the face plate in the direction toward and away from each other, resilient means constantlyrurging the runway in the direction towards the face plate, and an outwardly turned portion on the lower end of the runway for engagingthe filament attached to coins traveling over the runway and directing the filament toward the area between the runway and the face plate after the coin falls from the lower end portion of the runway.

5. A coin operated machine as claimed in claim 3 in which the means mounting the runway on the face plate in a manner to permit limited relative movement comprises a. stud rigid with the face plate and extending through an opening in the upper end portion of the runway and dimensioned to have a length slightly greater than the width of the runway to permit limited movement of the runway in the direction toward and away from the face plate and another stud rigid with the lower end portion of the runway and extending axially slidably through an opening in the face plate and dimensioned to have a portion extending beyond the opposite side of the face plate.

6. A coin operated machine as claimed in claim 5 in which the means constantly urging the runway in the direction towards the face plate comprises a coil spring concentric with the stud on the lower end portion of the runway having one end portion bearing against the opposite wall of the face plate While' the other end bears against the head on the end portion of the stud extending axially beyond the face plate.

No references cited. 

